Chinese Premier
Wen Jiabao
has urged the Communist Party to unite and quicken the pace of reform, after purging one of its highest profile members and finally revealing that its leadership transition would begin on November 8.

During a high-profile state banquet to mark the 63rd anniversary of the “new China", Mr Wen said the party must adhere to its “opening up" policy and advance political and economic reforms.

The Premier’s call came just a day after Bo Xilai, a former top official, was expelled from the party for corruption, abuse of power and sexual misconduct.

The decisive move against Mr Bo, who will be prosecuted before a civilian court, indicates that the party is trying to make a public show of resolving its biggest political crisis in more than two decades.

Naming a date for the National Party Congress also demonstrates that the factional in-fighting over the make-up of the country’s new leadership team has been largely resolved.

“Let us rally more closely around the [Communist Party] Central Committee and comrade Hu Jintao as the general secretary," Mr Wen said.

The Party Congress will run for approximately two weeks from November 8, at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. On the last day, the new standing committee – China’s top decision-making body – will be unveiled.

Mr Bo was tipped to win a place on this elite body, before his police chief attempted to defect to the United States in February and in doing so started China’s biggest political drama since the Tiananmen Square massacre. During his two days holed up at a US mission, Wang Lijun told diplomats that Mr Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, had murdered British businessman Neil Heywood.

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Ms Gu was convicted in August of the Briton’s murder, while Mr Wang was sentenced last month to 15 years’ jail for corruption and covering up the death.

During his trial, Mr Wang said he had informed Mr Bo that his wife was the prime suspect in the murder.

Mr Bo was stood down from all party positions in March, but many doubted he would ever be brought before a civilian court, believing he would only face an internal party disciplinary committee.

By bringing Mr Bo before a court, where he is certain to be convicted, the party is attempting to show that it is tough on corruption, which many see as the biggest threat to its survival.

In a statement on Friday night, the official Xinhua newsagency said that Mr Bo had taken “advantage of his office to seek profits for others and received huge bribes ­personally and through his family".

The Xinhua report said Mr Bo’s transgression went back to his time as a provincial official in Dalian and Liaoning and covered his tenure as commerce minister and party secretary for the municipality of Chongqing, in south-western China.

China’s increasingly vocal micro-bloggers were quick to mock the Xinhua report, asking how Mr Bo’s many offences had only just been ­discovered.

“What we should be thinking is how, at every step along the road, he was violating discipline," historian Lei Yi said. “How did he climb so high? We should consider problems with the system."

Xinhua’s report said Mr Bo’s behaviour had “badly undermined the reputation of the party and the country" and added that “Bo had affairs and maintained improper sexual relationships with a number of women".

A date has not been set for Mr Bo’s trial, although it is unlikely to take place before the National Congress.

By conducting what is in effect a semi-public show trial of Mr Bo, the party will be able to release an official narrative on his crimes.

But this is likely to be met with the same scepticism that greeted official statements after the trial of Mr Wang and Ms Gu.

The challenge for the party will be to insulate other top officials from the alleged crimes of Mr Bo.